Gone are the days where top candidates eagerly await to hear from an employer. Now, thanks to skill shortages, workplace needs and technology advances, the very best candidates are in the position of power, often being able to choose the organisation they work for after receiving multiple job offers.

With attracting and retaining the best talent becoming even more critical to the growth and success of your organisation, now is the time to gain a competitive edge by building your…

To say that a workplace investigation report is an important document is certainly something of an understatement. Following the investigation, the report will be relied upon for all manner of significant organisational decisions, tasks and action. 

As a result, it is essential that workplace investigators create a professional, transparent and unbiased document.

ONE REPORT, MANY…

The words ‘staff retention’ echo loudly in the halls of any good business, and the topic of keeping your people reigns supreme from the board room to the back office. However, as the national talent pool shrinks, and competition heats up, Australian executives are growing increasingly concerned about losing their top talent.  

In the 2019 Australia Pay…

Are you considering a career in HR? You might be new to the workforce or someone looking to change their career. Whatever your reasons, a career in HR offers many benefits. And if you’re willing to do adult training, you could have a highly lucrative career.

In this blog, we’ll talk about what HR professionals do and the various types of roles you could fill. We’ll also look at how you can start your career in HR by transferring your soft skills or by doing adult…

In any workplace investigation, there will be multiple competing factors for an investigator to consider. One core issue is developing the appropriate interview strategy.

Investigative interviewing requires careful consideration of the purpose of the investigation, and exactly who will be interviewed. There is also the question of tone - ensuring that the interview remains cordial and does not begin to resemble an…

The majority of business owners would undoubtedly agree that their most important asset are their employees. They realise that people are the real value of every business, and they take quality to another level.

So, naturally, the human resources department is essential when it comes to managing a business. However, the work of some HR departments can be too comprehensive to be optimally handled within the company.…

Whether your organisation is big or small, your human resources department is important to your success.

The HR team is not just there to file paperwork on personnel and do the payroll. They perform an important strategic role in looking after your organisation’s most important asset—its people.

By taking adult education courses in HR, or providing adult training to your…

Discussions with employees about restructures and redundancies are difficult and emotions often run high. Unfortunately, these things are a natural part of operating a business and can be the result of a range of factors from the introduction of new technology to the workplace, to a downturn in business.



With emotions running high, explanations about why a redundancy has occurred and what has happened to an employee’s job can sometimes get lost or confused. This is particularly so…

During the process of conducting workplace investigations, it is generally necessary to prepare letters of notification, and later, letters of allegation. 

We take a look at the difference between the two, and provide some tips on how to prepare these important documents. …

Employers regularly have to deal with issues relating to employee behaviour, work performance and misconduct. Often these concepts are interrelated and it can be difficult for employers to correctly characterise employee conduct and behaviour when a decision is made to commence a disciplinary process with an employee.



However, if the characterisation of the issue at hand is not made correctly in the disciplinary context, there is a real risk that an employee cannot properly answer…

Terminating an employee’s employment can be a confronting situation. It is difficult news to deliver and is often fuelled with emotion. For those reasons, many managers and employers attempt to avoid conflict or confrontation by delivering the news in a way that doesn’t involve a face to face meeting, such as in email or text message.

In two recent decisions, the Fair Work Commission (FWC) has warned against such an approach and has heavily criticised two separate…

One of Workplace Law’s lawyers recently attended a sporting event at one of the largest sporting arenas in New South Wales, and had the unfortunate experience of having to listen to nearby spectators make inappropriate (and racially charged) comments about the players on the field. This issue was raised with the hosting club and the venue subsequent to the game, however, as the perpetrators couldn’t be identified, the response was that the matter could not be taken any further.

For…

Australian and New Zealand organisations are upskilling their employees at “dial-up” speeds in a market that demands rapid learning and development programs, finds new research from Skillsoft, a global leader in corporate learning.

Based on a Vanson Bourne survey of 1,000 employees across Australia (855) and New Zealand (145) about their readiness for the future of work, Skillsoft’s Mind the Gap report released today reveals 55 percent…

When conducting a workplace investigation, it is crucial to be able to demonstrate that appropriate procedures have been followed. This is essential in defending any subsequent action that may be taken. 

It can be helpful for employers to create an action plan utilising Terms of Reference (ToR) and the services of an external investigator to keep the investigation process on track. 

3…

The Modern Slavery Act (2018) came to pass on 1 January 2019, and for companies with a consolidated revenue of more than $100 million, it establishes mandatory reporting criteria. The first reports are due in February 2020 and information required will include:

• Their structure, operations and supply chains;
• Potential modern slavery risks;
• Actions taken to assess and address these risks; and
• How they assess the effectiveness of these…